March 2005 - Page 35

The side-ladder design used on TRN 17,600-gal tank cars are typical of the early style TRN tank-car ladders. A photo of this early style ladder can be seen in Photo 32. Note that the lower portion of the ladder actually angles inward toward the car. This is to keep the car within the Plate B clearances. Also, note that the bottom of the ladder does not have any bracing connecting to the tank shell. The majority of the TRN 17,600-gal cars have Midland exterior spring safety valves. Some cars also have frangible disk vents in place of, or in addition to, exterior spring safety valves. Photo 33 shows the typical Midland exterior spring safety valve application. Shown in Photos 34 and 35 are two different frangible disk applications that are also typical on syrup type tank cars. The brake arrangement on these cars is the typical body-mounted brake cylinder configuration. No variations in the brake arrangement have been seen to date in the TRN 17,600-gal syrup cars. The overall bottom configuration is simple as well and is shown in Photo 36. Note the butterfly-type outlet valve, standard unload connections and typical TRN corn-syrup-type exterior coil pipes. The most common bottom-valve style on TRN 17,600-gal cars is the Jamesbury butterfly outlet valve with its lateral valve handle mount. This is the Type C valve arrangement as shown in Photo 20 of Part 4, and the same terminology and photos shown in Part 4 will be referred to here for the three bottom-valve styles. The Type C valve arrangement is what Atlas produced on their model of the TRN 17,600-gal corn syrup car. This is a much-needed tank car model if you are modeling the 1984-present railroading scene. Thankfully Atlas has produced a very nice scale model of this car design with multiple top arrangements to match the prototypes. With this article the reader has the knowledge to identify and model many of the prototype files. For more in-depth coverage of the various TRN corn syrup car individual files, look for future articles in the Freight Cars Today (FCT) Journal. In this publication there will be very detailed coverage of these tank cars and other freight car designs. For more info on FCT you can email Dave Casdorph at dgcasdorph@msn.com, visit his website at http://www.dgcasdorph.com, or write him at P.O. Box 2480, Monrovia, CA 91017. I would like to specifically thank the following individuals and companies for their assistance with Parts 5-7 of this article. Trinity Industries, A. E. Staley, Atlas Model Railroad Company, Al Johnson of Cargill, John Shaunghessy of Carry Transit, Ken Edmier, Doug Stark, Chad Hewitt, Chris Butts, Eric Neubauer, Joe Shaw, Rich Stewart, Carl Shaver, and especially Dave Casdorph. Part 8 of this series will briefly look at corn syrup facilities to give some modeling ideas. In conclusion, I need to apologize that Photos 4 and 5 were mistakenly switched in Part 4 of this article. Sorry for any confusion that this caused.

34
Frangible disk safety vent within a protective clamshell cover. This style is common on GATX-owned TRN 17,600-gal cars, and can be mounted on or off the manway cover. This detail can easily be modeled.

32
Early TRN ladder style with angular bottom pieces and T side supports. Note the lack of any bracing at the bottom of the ladder.

35

Frangible disk safety vent mounted on manway cover. This style is common on early built TRN 17,600-gal cars. This detail can easily be modeled.

33

Midland type exterior spring safety valve. This is the design found on the Atlas TRN 17,600-gal model.

36

Bottom configuration that is typical for most TRN 17,600-gal corn syrup cars.